Donald Ray Carthel (born July 6, 1952) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach. He is an assistant coach in charge special teams quality control at

Stephen F. Austin State University } Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequennly renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on par ...

. Carthel served as head football coach at Lubbock Christian College—now

Lubbock Christian University Lubbock Christian University (LCU) is a private Christian university associated with the Churches of Christ and located in Lubbock, Texas. Chartered originally as part of a grade school called Lubbock Christian School in 1954, the institution ...

—from 1981 to 1982,

Eastern New Mexico University Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU or Eastern) is a public university with a main campus in Portales, New Mexico, and two associate degree-granting branches, one at Ruidoso and one at Roswell. ENMU is New Mexico's largest regional comprehensiv ...

from 1985 to 1991, and

West Texas A&M University West Texas A&M University (WTAMU or WT) is a public university in Canyon, Texas. It is the northernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It was established on Se ...

from 2005 to 2012, compiling a career college football coaching record of 124–69–1. He is also the father of Stephen F. Austins' head football coach, Colby Carthel.

Early years

After playing four years at

, Carthel began his coaching career under coach

L. G. Wilson L. G. Wilson (November 5, 1924; Anson, Texas – June 29, 2001) was an American high school head football coach and athletic director. Life He graduated from Anson High School and Abilene Christian University (then College) in 1950, where he pla ...

Floydada High School Floydada Independent School District is a public school district based in Floydada, Texas, United States. In addition to Floydada, it serves Dougherty. Since fall 2004, Floydada Junior High School has participated as an "immersion campus" in t ...

Floydada, Texas Floydada ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Texas, United States. This rural community lies on the high plains of the Llano Estacado in West Texas and is sometimes referred to as the Pumpkin Capital of Texas. The population was ...

. He later coached at

University of Dubuque The University of Dubuque (UD) is a private Presbyterian university in Dubuque, Iowa. About 2,200 students attend the university. History The University of Dubuque has had a long history in Dubuque since its founding in 1852. Early years T ...

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

, and

Boswell High School Boswell High School is a public secondary school in Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into fo ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

, until getting his first head coach job at Lubbock Christian College (now

Head coaching career

Lubbock Christian

Carthel coached the Lubbock Christian football team from 1981-1982, compiling a record of 1-19. He resigned and then took a job as an assistant coach at the University of Texas at El Paso under coach Bill Yung.

Eastern New Mexico

In 1985 Carthel took over head coaching duties at his alma mater Eastern New Mexico. In his seven seasons the Greyhounds had only one losing season. After a 5–5 record in Carthel's initial season, the Greyhounds were 8–3 in 1986 and 9–2 in '87. They were 2–8 in 1988, but followed with records of 7–3, 6–4 and 7–3–1. In five of Carthel's seven years, the Greyhounds were ranked in the Division II Top 20 Poll. In 1991, the ENMU won the Lone Star Conference championship. Carthel was inducted into the ENMU Hall of Fame in 2001. Having reached the pinnacle of his career as a head coach, Carthel chose to retire at age 39, and moved back to the family farm in

Friona, Texas Friona is a city in Parmer County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,123 at the 2010 census. Friona was established as a small community in 1898 by XIT Ranch, originally called Frio, which is also the word for "cold" in Spanish. The com ...

. He took a pause from football coaching for nine years, before becoming a volunteer coach at

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a private Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Southwestern United States and has one of t ...

under head coach

Gary Gaines Gary Gaines (May 4, 1949 – August 22, 2022) was an American football coach. Gaines was the head coach of the 1988 Permian High School football team, which was the focus of Buzz Bissinger's book '' Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a ...

in 2000. Trying to become a head coach again, Carthel applied for the vacant West Texas A&M job in late 2001, but athletic director Ed Harris opted for Ronnie Jones. In 2004 Carthel was named the head coach and general manager of the

Amarillo Dusters The Amarillo Venom were a professional indoor football team based in Amarillo, Texas. They played their home games at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Venom began play in 2004 as the Amarillo Dusters, a charter member of the Intense Football Leagu ...

in their inaugural season in the

Intense Football League The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football minor league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska. History ...

. Amarillo posted a 15–3 record under Carthel and won the IFL Championship that year.

West Texas A&M

West Texas A&M fired Jones after three unsuccessful seasons, thus Carthel applied for the job again. This time, he was selected as head coach. In his first year, he guided the school to its first Lone Star Conference Championship in 19 years. He then compiled a 33–5 record, which is the highest winning percentage of any West Texas A&M coach since Alonzo P. George's 3–0 record in 1918. As of 2008, only

Joe Kerbel Joseph Edward Kerbel (May 3, 1921 – March 20, 1973) was an American football coach. He is the second winningest coach in West Texas A&M Buffaloes history. After a successful coaching career at Bartlesville and Cleveland High School in Oklahom ...

(68–42–1) and

Frank Kimbrough Frank Kimbrough (November 2, 1956 – December 30, 2020) was an American post-bop jazz pianist. He was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He did some work at Chapel Hill before moving to Washington, D. C. in 1980 and then New York City ...

(54–52–2) won more games for West Texas A&M than Carthel. He also hired his son Colby Carthel as the

Defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

in 2006. At West Texas A&M, Carthel ran an “Air-Raid offense” very similar to Mike Leach's offense at nearby

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas ...

. After guiding West Texas A&M to its second undefeated regular season in school history, Carthel was named 2007 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region Four Coach of the year.''GoBuffs.com:'' Carthel Named AFCA Region Four Coach of the Year

Dismissal From West Texas A&M

On August 22, 2013, it was announced that Carthel had been fired by the university. According to West Texas A&M University officials, Carthel misled WT officials about paying for game tickets to a Texas Rangers baseball game during Lone Star Conference Media Days. Carthel did indeed purchase the tickets, but was promptly reimbursed by the two players that he bought the tickets for. The school then terminated him immediately, citing a violation of NCAA rules.

Texas A&M-Commerce

Carthel's son Colby was named head coach at Lone Star Conference rival Texas A&M-Commerce in 2013. Colby hired Don as a quality control assistant coach in 2015 and he was on staff during the Lions' 2017 National Championship season.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

Stephen F. Austin profile

Texas A&M–Commerce profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carthel, Don 1952 births Living people American football centers Abilene Christian Wildcats football coaches Dubuque Spartans football coaches Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds football coaches Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds football players Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football coaches Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football coaches UTEP Miners football coaches West Texas A&M Buffaloes football coaches High school football coaches in Texas People from Dimmitt, Texas People from Parmer County, Texas Lubbock Christian Chaparrals football coaches